ONE Campaign

The ONE Campaign has asked a few bloggers, including yours truly, to check out their new "On the Record" feature of their website.

According to a ONE spokesperson, the purpose is as follows:

“By getting every candidate to go on the record, we'll be able to be smart voters as we head to the polls, and no matter whose elected in 2008, we'll be able to hold the next president of the United States accountable to his or her plan.”

So what does the website tell you? Many of the candidates, including Hillary and Romney, for example, submitted short YouTube video posts focusing on issues such as AIDS and global poverty.

... From a purely technical standpoint, the web product is pretty cool. Aside from watching videos, readers can see the responses of two or three of the candidates in a side-by-side comparison.

Each candidate is compared on issues such as AIDS, eradicating malaria, child and maternal health, universal primary education, and food and clean water.

The comparison helps educate voters on the candidates' stances. For example, don't expect the compassionate conservative Mike Huckabee to cut spending on this issue -- or to differ too much from George W. Bush on the issue of AIDS:

I support reauthorization of PEPFAR and President Bush's proposal to double our commitment from $15 billion to $30 over the next five years.

While the ONE Campaign was kind enough to give me a sneak-peek, the videos will be posted later today for all to see. Check them out.

Note: I'm told Mike Huckabee will be recording videos for this campaign on Friday. Hopefully the candidates who have not yet gone on the record will also submit their plans ...